Christmas Poinsettia

Hello Blogger friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit this last Saturday of 2019.

 This year went by like a whirlwind. Hope 2019 slows down a bit (lol). I am getting ready for my youngest son and his family to come and visit for a week. they will arrive tomorrow. 

Looking forward to another celebration of Christmas with them. My sweet little granddaughter, Phoenix Daisy, will bring such a wonderful joy to our home. Her antics will be talked about long after she leaves.

I have a lot of little things to do to get ready for their visit. So let's move onto my card for today. This is another of my Christmas cards from this season. The layout is from the DTGD challenges on Splitcoaststampers this past summer. And, the challenge hostess was Sandie. Here is a link to the challenge. You have to be a fan club member to be able to view it though. 

I created a Christmas card using the MFT poinsettia die with Stampin'-Up's cherry cobbler cardstock. My background paper is from the Christmas Specialty collection from Stampin'-Up.

Also used a metallic snowflake, sequins and silver cord to complete my card. And, that's my card for today. So until next time...…..God bless.

card details:

Paper: cherry cobbler,garden green, this Christmas specialty dsp (Stampin'-Up) 

Paper Size: A2 

Accessories: poinsettia & flag stax dies (MFT), foil snowflake (Stampin'-Up), silver cord (recollections), silver sequins (Darice) 

I am also entering:

1.  Fussy and Fancy has a Christmas/New Years challenge. 

2.  As You Like It has an anything goes challenge. 

3.  Crafty Creations has an anything goes challenge. 

4.  Cute n'Crafty Christmas has a Christmas/Winter theme.

5.  Creative Moments has an anything goes with optional of Christmas challenge

Christmas Lantern

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today.

 

Well Christmas Day 2018 is in the history books. We had such wonderful family time both Christmas Eve with my in-laws and Christmas Day with my son and his family. Our dinner on Christmas Day was fabulous. My daughter-in-law and I work so well together in the kitchen.

 

I made a ham which I don't usually do for Christmas but I had some other new recipes that I thought would compliment it well. I made an orange marmalade glaze for the ham which turned out so delicious.

 

The new recipes were roasted rainbow herbed carrots. I bought white, purple and orange carrots. Hence the name rainbow. The herbs I used to season were fresh rosemary, thyme, shallots, garlic. Then I roasted them with olive oil and the herbs.  They had such incredible flavor. This one s definitely a keeper.

 

I also made green beans with a gremolata. The gremolata consisted of lemon zest, garlic, fresh parsley, pine nuts, a bit of parmesan cheese and olive oil. I also had a sweet potato gratin. This consisted of fresh sliced sweet potatoes, gruyere cheese, heavy cream, onion powder, smoked paprika and chipotle powder.

 

I also had a fresh fruit salad. My family was happy with everything and I had compliments galore. Now let's move onto my card for today.

 

This is another of this year's Christmas cards. I created this one using the colors from CC716 on Splitcoaststampers. Jeanne was our hostess and she chose melon mambo, pear pizzazz and blushing bride for her color trio. Optional was to add foliage.

melon mambo, pear pizzazz, blushing bride

My lantern image is the Lantern w/Pine boughs die from CottageCutz. I used the challenge colors plus some neutrals for the greenery.
My pine boughs are cut in mossy meadow (Stampin'-Up's new neutral) and the acorn is soft suede and baked brown sugar.

I just bought the Stampin'-Up Buffalo Check stamp and wanted to use it on this card for my background. I stamped in blushing bride ink and then used a pear pizazz marker and drew lines to make it a tartan plaid.

 

Well that's it for me for this post. So until next time...….. God bless

 

card details:

Stamps: buffalo check (Stampin'-Up), christmas messages (Hero Arts)  

Paper: pear pizzazz, blushing bride, whisper white, melon mambo, mossy meadow, baked brown sugar, soft suede  

Paper Size: A2  

Ink: melon mambo  

Accessories: lantern w/pine boughs, rectangle dies (CottageCutz)

 

I am also entering:

1.  As You Like It has an anything goes challenge.

2.  Crafting with an Attitude #46 has an anything goes challenge.

3.  Crimbo Crackers has an anything goes Christmas challenge.

4.  ABC Christmas Challenge is "Z" for zero embellishments. I used a die but added no additional embellishments.

5.  Christmas at Sweet Stampin' has an anything goes challenge.

6.  Cute N' Crafty Christmas #3 has an anything goes challenge.

 

 

Christmas Mice

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today.

Christmas has finally arrived and I hope you will have a wonderful day spent with family and friends. My son and his family will be here for Christmas dinner later today. I wanted to get a quick blog post in before my day gets underway.

 

This card I created for the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #714. Pam was the hostess and she chose merry merlot, shaded spruce and very vanilla as her color trio. Optional was to add some shimmer or glitter.

very vanilla, merry merlot, shaded spruce

My card is using the CottageCutz "Christmas Mice" die. I used the challenge colors for their clothes and for the presents.

For the background, I used an MFT stencil and some Stampin'-Up shimmer glitter paste. This covers the optional item. I also used some glitter paper for the snowbank.

To get the challenge color vanilla into my card, I used a vanilla enamel dot. I added it to the bow on the outdoor lamp.

 

Well that's it for me for this post so until next time...….God bless and Merry Christmas.

 

card details:

Paper: merry merlot, shaded spruce, whisper white, baked brown sugar, basic gray, smoky slate (stampin'-Up) white glitter paper (Recollections)  

Paper Size: A2  

Ink: baked brown sugar (Stampin'-Up)   

Accessories: Christmas Mice, Joy of Giving (CottageCutz), Snow stencil (MFT), shimmer glitter paste (Stampin'-Up)  

Peace & Goodwill

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life.

 

Well, it's now 2 days before Christmas 2018. I am busy making chocolate treats today. Chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered oreos, chocolate covered cashews and peppermint bark are all on my to do list. 

 

I wanted to get another of my Christmas cards posted before I begin any of my activities. So here are some details on this card.  I used the  Splitcoaststampers sketch #722 for my card. Cathy was our hostess and she has given us a great layout to turn into a card.

 

 My background designer paper is from the Stampin-Up twinkle-twinkle collection. This starry navy-blue paper caught my eye and I thought it would work well as the backdrop for my main image. Since the layout calls for 2 rectangular panels, I used white ribbon to divide the panels.

The Peace On Earth image is a die from CottageCutz and I cut it with some silver cardstock. I added another large star also cut in silver cardstock.

To finish off my image panel, I stamped my sentiment and scattered a few navy blue stars. Then, I attached it to a silver card base.

 

Well, that's it for me for this post. So until next time.....God bless and Merry Christmas.

card details:

Stamps: wonderful words holiday (PaperTrey Ink)

Paper: whisper white, twinkle twinkle dsp (Stampin'-Up) silver cardstock (Recollections)  

Paper Size: 5 3/4" x 4 1/2" 

Ink: night of navy (Stampin'-Up)  

Accessories: Peace on Earth die (CottageCutz), Northern Star (Frantic Stamper), White Ribbon (Michael's)  

 

I am also entering: 

1.  Cute N Crafty has a Christmas/Winter challenge.

2.  Dream Valley has a Christmas challenge.

3.  Path of Positivity has an anything goes w/optional of metallic

 

Christmas Warmth

Hello Blogger friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit today with The Charmed Life blog.

It's 3 days before Christmas and I hope your shopping, wrapping, baking and card making are finished. I still have baking and wrapping to do but over the next couple of days I will get it finished. Then I can sit back and relax and enjoy this beautiful holiday.

The key for me will be to stay focused and not get sidetracked with other things. So first up for me is this blog post. Over the next several days, I want to show all the Christmas cards I made.

This card I made went out to my friend in North Carolina. She lost her husband to cancer in the summertime. I thought the sentiment on this card would be okay for her. It's hard when you lose someone when a holiday comes around. She has a strong faith and is grieving but not overwhelmed in her grief. She will be surrounded by family this Christmas which will be so good for her. 

I used the Splitcoaststampers sketch #723 for my card layout. Diane was the hostess and she provided a great layout for our cards.

Here are some details on my card. The background paper is from the Stampin-Up "Quilted Christmas" designer paper collection. The lantern and candle are part of the Country Candle set from CottageCutz.
The sentiment is part of the Christmas Light stamp set from SNSS. For the circle element, I used a poinsettia. I cut it with a die from Spellbinders.

Well that's it for me for today. So until next time...….God Bless and Merry Christmas!

card details

Stamps: Christmas Light (SNSS)  

Paper: real red, whisper white, old olive, so saffron, pumpkin pie, silver cardstock, quilted Christmas dsp (Stampin'-Up)  

Paper Size: A2  

Ink: tuxedo black (Memento), so saffron (Stampin'-Up)  

Accessories: country candles, pierced rectangle dies (CottageCutz), poinsettia die (Spellbinders), red sequins (Darice)  

CottageCutz die used:

I am also entering:

1.  Polkadoodles has an anything goes challenge.

2.  Winter Wonderland has an anything goes challenge.

3.  Archi-Scraps has an anything goes challenge.

Angel Nativity Tree

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today. 

Well, it's only 10 days until Christmas. Hope all your preparations are going according to schedule. Mine came to a halt this week because I came down with a cold. I am better now.

So, I  am frantically trying to make up for lost time. Today my plan is to finish addressing my Christmas cards and get them to the post office. Then move onto the tree in my living room. It's up but I haven't decorated it yet. Once that is done my decorating will be finished and then I can move onto gift wrapping and baking. 

Since my day is so full and we have a Christmas dinner to go to tonight, let's move onto my card for today. This one I created for my weekly DT post on the CottageCutz Blog. 

I used the Angel Tree Nativity die to complete my card. This die is so pretty so I tried to keep the card relatively simple. I don't usually make black & white cards for Christmas, but I had this designer paper from Stampin'-Up that I wanted to use. It has the words from different Christmas carols in French, German and English. I thought I could pair it with both black & silver cardstock as an accent.

To get a black border around the image panel I made a mask and sponged instead of adding cardstock. I didn't want to cover up more of the words on the designer paper. The sentiment is from a set by PaperTrey ink. 

I did sponge a little yellow around the manger to create a soft glow. My card was completed by adding a few sequins. Well that's it for me for this post. So until next time...…..God bless. 

die I used to create card:

I am also entering:

1.  Alphabet Challenge has a "S" for seasons greetings challenge.

2.  Winter Wonderland has an anything goes challenge.

3.  Cardz for Galz has a non-traditional Christmas colors challenge. Black & White are not colors I    usually use on my cards.

Peace on Earth

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog.

 

Hope all your Christmas preps are coming along okay. I am still running a little behind. Had a few setbacks this week with other things going on. But, I hope to be able to catch up this week.

 

It's another busy one with Preschool, my neighbor's annual holiday tea, and then we have tickets to see a holiday show at a theater in downtown Pittsburgh. It's the Magical Cirque Christmas. My hubby's birthday is at the end of the month so this is an early present.  

 

This weekend I want to finish making my Christmas cards and then get them addressed and mailed. I may get my hubby to help with the envelope addressing. I have the dining room tree completely decorated and that room is finished. The living room tree is in the stand but not decorated as yet. Hope to get to that on Monday. I have an aggressive plan for this week so I just need to stick to the plan. 

 

Now let's move onto my card for today. This one I made for the color challenge #712 on Splitcoaststampers.  Stef was the hostess and she chose coastal cabana, pool party, mossy meadow and silver. Optional was to do some heat embossing.

coastal cabana, pool party, mossy meadow, silver

For my card I used the Stampin-Up scenic season stamp and created a simple background scene. I bought this stamp years ago and have never inked it until today. But I thought the image was perfect for the colors that Stef picked.

This stamp set has a sentiment that I taped off before inking. Stamped the trees in mossy meadow ink and then used wink of stella for shimmer. Then I taped off a portion of the trees and just stamped the little bird that is also part of the stamp set in coastal cabana ink. I repeated this part 2 more times to stamp 3 birds.

To cover the dessert option, I stamped some background snowflakes in Versa-mark ink and then used white embossing powder and heat set.

To create the sky, I sponged tumbled glass distress ink over the snowflakes for an emboss resist technique. I used more of the tumbled glass ink as a border around the layering panel.

For my peace phrase, I used a CottageCutz die and cut it in coastal cabana cardstock. I cut it 3 times to give more dimension and sponged with coastal cabana ink. The peace dove is part of the same die.

I finished off my card by mounting it on a silver cardstock base to cover that color in the palette.

 

Well that's it for me for this post so until next time...…..God bless.

 

card details:

Stamps: scenic season (Stampin-Up), in the meadow (PaperTrey Ink)  

Paper: whisper white, mossy meadow, coastal cabana (Stampin-Up), silver (recollections)  

Paper Size: A2  

Ink: mossy meadow, coastal cabana (Stampin-Up), tumbled glass distress (Ranger), versamark (Tsukineko)  

Accessories: peace, love & joy dies (CottageCutz), white embossing powder (Stampendous), clear wink of stella (Kuretake)  

 Techniques: Emboss Resist, Heat Embossing

 

I am also entering:

1. Crafty Calendar Challenge has a "it's Christmas time" challenge. 

2.  Inkspirational has an anything goes Christmas challenge #175. 

3.  Christmas Crafts All Year Round has an anything goes.  

 

Dapper Dachshund

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today.

 

Well here we are at December 1 and now only 24 days until Christmas. I was making progress on my decorating and then this week it was too busy to get anything else done.

But my goal for today is to get one of my trees up and decorated. I put that one in the dining room so I want to get that room completely decorated. If I get that done I will be a happy camper (lol)!! 

 

If I want to get my goal accomplished, I need to get started. So, let's move onto my card for today. This one I created for my weekly DT post on the CottageCutz Blog. I used the new Dapper Dachshund die from the Black Friday release for my card.

 

I started my card with the Mojo503 sketch. If you don't know already Julee Tillman has started up the Mojo sketches again. She has them on Facebook and on her blog.

I had this plaid paper from Lawn Fawn in my stash and thought it was so perfect for this debonair doxie. I cut her sweater and hat in the corresponding colors on the designer paper.

 

The sentiment is from an MFT stamp set and I thought it was so perfect for this little cutie patootie.

 

Well that's it for me for this post. So until next time...….God bless.

 

die I used to create card:

 

I am also entering:

1.  Crafty Catz has an anything goes with optional twist of too cute.

2.  Creative Moments has an anything goes.

3.  Paper Craft Crew Challenge has a new to you theme.

 

Waterfront Scene

Hello Blogger Friends. Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog.

 

Well, it's cyber Monday and the deals are all over the internet. Hope you found something and at a good price! I am looking at a new HP desktop computer. I found one at a great price at Sam's Club. I only have until end of day today to make my decision.

 

My existing desktop in my craft room has been acting wonky for months now. I had a friend look at it and he initially thought it was some malware. But after cleaning with a couple of new programs it's still doing the same thing. I have virus software but I guess it doesn't clean this malware stuff.

 

So let's move onto my card for today. This is a card I made for the color challenge #713 On Splitcoaststampers. Barbara was our hostess and she has chose balmy blue, pineapple punch, granny apple green and berry burst for her color palette. Optional is a never been used stamp set.

granny apple green, balmy blue, berry burst, pineapple punch

For my card I used the Stampin'-Up Waterfront set. I bought this set because I was seeing so many beautiful scenic cards stamped with it but then I never used it. Sound familiar anyone???

I watched a video on YouTube from Christine Riley and I loved what she did with the set so I went to work on my card.

I stamped the mountains in balmy blue ink. I stamped off 2x to give the appearance of being farther away. Then the closer mountain ranges in full strength.

The trees in front of the mountains I used night of navy ink (it's Stampin'-Up's new neutral). Stamped off 1x on some of the trees. The water is stamped with balmy blue. I stamped off 2x again for a color gradient. Then the darker water is stamped full strength.

 

Used granny apple green ink for the grassy areas. The pine trees on the grassy areas are stamped in mossy meadow (another new neutral from Stampin'-Up).
The pineapple punch is covered with the sun and the berry burst with my thanks die cut phrase. Well, that's it for me for today. So until next time...….God bless.

card details:
Stamps: Waterfront (Stampin'-Up)  
Paper: whisper white, balmy blue, berry burst  
Paper Size: A2  
Ink: balmy blue, pineapple punch, granny apple green, night of navy, mossy meadow (Stampin'-Up)  
Accessories: Thanks die (Taylored Expressions)